Kraftwerk (Photo credit: Bartes Citizen)
Since Tuesday, Kraftwerk, the groundbreaking German electronic outfit, have been performing at MoMA PS1 in Long Island City. According to an op-ed written by Rob Cox, “ultimately, success in technology – as in art – is derived from the expression of big ideas, not simply a mastering of its circuitry. It is an example that businesses, too, can learn from.” For tech companies today, obsolescence is a familiar trend. An example he gives is the cell phone business: “Palm begat BlackBerry, which begat Nokia, which begat Apple.”
While Kraftwerk’s sound may be “old-fashioned” to some listeners, their messages transcend the music and often predict the future of technology. In their 1981 track Computer World, “the song suggested that computing itself would change how man viewed “business, numbers, money, people,” and reshape “crime, travel, communication, entertainment.”
Cox believes today’s technology will fade much like Kraftwerk’s sounds, and “the success or failure of their creators will depend on their ability to adapt and continue to capitalize on these larger human impulses to communicate, play, and connect.”
